As I was researching for Sunday's worship service, I stumbled upon something that I want to share with you that I think helps us to begin this process. On May 20, The Rev. Canon Leonard L. Hamlin, Sr. offered these words at the National Cathedral in Washington DC.
He said:
"Over the past several weeks, I have found myself asking numerous questions of God. Our conversations are often filled with questions but it is not difficult for me to conclude that the recent circumstances have pushed me into questioning almost every facet of life experienced personally or imaginatively contemplated. Time after time and moment after moment in the midst of this COVID reality, I have desired to know what God is doing, where God is working, why is this happening, and why is there such injustice and inequality in this world? The list of questions does not stop there but continues until my questions become more personal in nature.
It is at that moment that the space between my questions appears to grow larger. My thoughts grow deeper and more consuming while at the same time my listening become clearer and more focused. It is somewhere at this point I hear the Spirit telling me, “now we can talk.""
As I sit here in my office this morning, I can confess that I too ask many questions of God each day. Some make sense and address issues that I will face today or issues that the church faces in its ministry.Yet some of my questions are self-serving or self-motivated. Some of my questions only address things that are important to me, and as I ask them of God, I find myself leaving behind any sense of mission and ministry and I become self-focused.
Life begins to revolve around me and what I feel and what I want and I stop giving God the space to speak to me. But perhaps Rev. Hamlin is correct. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is sitting beside us right now wanting to continue the conversation. I wonder what comes next in your life when God says to you: "now we can talk."
Blessings
Derek
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